OAI brings together researchers, resources and capabilities from a host of public and private participants, with experience and expertise in diverse topics including:

Advanced materials and structures

Energy conversion and storage

Propulsion systems

Communications

Navigations and surveillance

Nanotechnology

Defense threat reduction

Computer based design and development tools

Computational modeling tools

Instrumentation and electronics

Drawing on this broad range of interests, we are focused on building multi-organizational teams to achieve world-class solutions that benefit Ohio’s aerospace economy.

Our strengths make OAI a natural focal point for forming partnerships:

Neutrality. As a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, OAI has no vested interest in the choice of research and technology efforts. Rather, our focus is on achieving consensus on partners’ needs and goals, and assuring that needs and goals are realized.

Experience in working with government, industry and academia, especially in all aspects of contracting and subcontracting, as a single focal point for the effective, efficient distribution of consortium resources.

Expertise and experience as highly effective facilitators. This allows us to bring competing organizations to consensus and craft appropriate teaming agreements that resolve issues relating to intellectual property, publication and data rights, and proprietary information up front – so there are no surprises.

Since 1989, OAI has managed more than $206 million in collaborative activities and over 250 projects.

If you have technology development challenges that require complementary skills, or if you are focusing on pre-competitive research, OAI can help you identify the right team of collaborators from industry, universities, and federal laboratories.

While each research and technology challenge requires its own unique team configuration, in broad terms OAI develops five types of teams:

Working Groups

Pre-Competitive Research Consortia

Shared Development/Multiple Application Consortia

System Integration Teams

Technology and Innovation Partnerships Exchanges

Working Groups
Recognizing that exploration is the first step in relevant technology development, OAI serves as an incubator for esoteric ideas and shared interests. Our networking and team building skills have been very successful in bringing together working groups which focus on promising research and development which may hold the potential for future commercialization.

Pre-Competitive Research Consortia
OAI excels at forming pre-competitive consortia designed to address common objectives shared by multiple organizations, including organizations that are competitors in the marketplace. Typically, participating organizations will contribute resources that are pooled to fund research of a common interest to all participants - and all participants share in and benefit from the results.

Benefits to customers include:

Leveraging limited R&D dollars, especially for pre-competitive research and technology needs difficult to fund in a single company or organization.

High quality research and technology development results, advancing the state of the art.

Deliverables that can be customized to each participant’s unique product portfolio and market segment.

Cross-organization collaboration and learning.

Successful examples of this type of multi-organizational team include:

Shared Development/Multiple Application Consortia
Given our broad range of resources and participating organizations, OAI can work effectively to build Shared Development teams, where diverse groups of specialists can come together for application development around a common technology.

System Integration Teams
As OAI’s core mission is the advancement of Ohio’s aerospace economy, team-building which focuses on the commercialization of specific technologies is clearly a priority. Bringing together technology developers, commercializers and end users to develop cross cutting technology is a strength of OAI’s System Integration Teams.

Technology and Innovation Partnerships Exchanges
OAI uses proven techniques to identify technologies ready for commercialization and to identify matches with industry partners ready to license or further advance the technology through focused application research programs. OAI’s neutrality ensures that we find the right partners to develop your technology and put in place the proper teaming agreements so that the intellectual property rights are transferred from researcher to commercializer at the successful completion of the project.

OAI’s collaborative projects range from the most down-to-earth (literally, as satellite remote sensing data is applied to the challenges facing Ohio farmers) to recently-emerging esoteric technologies. All, however, are ultimately focused on deriving real-world application from Ohio’s aerospace research and technology infrastructure.

The Aeroacoustics Research Consortium (AARC)
was established in 2000. It is a partnership between the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC), Boeing, GE Aviation, Honeywell, Pratt & Whitney, and Rolls-Royce, fostering knowledge exchange and improvement of the state of the art in aeroacoustics through sponsored research and interaction among world-class aeroacoustics researchers.

The specific mission of the Aeroacoustics Research Consortium is to promote world-class aeroacoustics research, ultimately resulting in the reduction of aircraft engine noise.
AARC also addresses:

Attracting acoustics experts from around the world to conduct high-quality aeroacoustics research (computational and/or experimental)

Organizing and hosting technical meetings, seminars, workshops, short courses, and conferences to bring additional focus and visibility to aeroacoustics research

OAI convenes the Consortium, oversees its operations, and acts as the fiscal and contracting agent for AARC-sponsored research. AARC has achieved at least 1.5 to 1 funding leverage for the NASA Glenn Research Center, and 7 to 1 funding leverage for industry participants.

For more information, please contact Ann Heyward, AARC Director and Executive Vice President, at 440.962.3030 or AnnHeyward@oai.org, or Kim Tanger, AARC Program Coordinator, at 440.962.3023 or KimTanger@oai.org.
Advanced Film Capacitor Consortium (AFCC)

A National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)-funded project for which an integrated product team (IPT) has been formed to develop polymer dielectrics (blend of PVDF and polyester) for high energy density film capacitors.

Capacitor applications include fluorescent lighting, motors, portable defibrillators, hybrid vehicles and automotive fuel cells. This IPT is led by the Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI) and partners Aerovox, Case Western Reserve University, DuPont Teijin Films, Lithium Power Technologies, Inc., University of Houston and expert consultants with the NIST.

At this project’s conclusion, an optimized blend of PVDF/Polyester materials will be available for use as a dielectric in high energy density film capacitors for lighting, motor, portable defibrillator, and military pulsed-power applications.

Bearing Design

Lubrication of bearings in a vacuum is an ongoing challenge for space exploration. This study is designed to examine the long-term impact on bearings of operating in a vacuum aboard the International Space Station. On the ISS, a system life of 10 years is required at a 99% probability of survival. The system being studied consists of 3 shafts and 10 bearings. Shaft speed is near continuous at about 42 rpm.

The results of this study will help determine the design of future components on the ISS and on spacecraft required to achieve the goals of NASA’s Moon, Mars and beyond missions.

The Collaborative Core Research Program pools industry sponsorship fees to competitively fund exploratory seed projects in innovative technologies at universities. Such projects are responsive to the strategic needs of OAI’s industry sponsors.

The key objective of CCRP is the fostering of long-term strategic relationships between industry, university and government collaborators, through a sharing of strategic technical needs and capabilities.

CCRP has provided over $150 million of funding to more than 80 projects. Many of these projects have led to very successful technology transitions and awards. For example, the $21.5 million Federated Intelligent Product EnviRonment (FIPER) project originated at Ohio University as a CCRP project.

OhioView

OhioView is the Ohio element of AmericaView. It is a consortium of 12 Ohio universities mining the wealth of satellite remote sensing data every day to assess critical environments and provide data and information that support decision making for disaster preparedness, homeland security and urban planning. OhioView is also committed to supporting K-12 education, workforce development and outreach.

OAI acts as OhioView’s fiscal agent. OAI staff facilitates collaborative activities of the consortium members and provides financial management services. The OhioView (http://www.ohioview.org) consortium consists of the University of Akron (UA), Bowling Green State University (BGSU), the University of Cincinnati (UC), Cleveland State University (CSU), Kent State University (KSU), Miami University (MU), Ohio University (OU), Ohio State University (OSU), the University of Toledo (UT), Wright State University (WSU), Central State University (CeSU) and Youngstown State University.

The application of PMC materials in military gas turbine applications is currently restricted by the limited service temperature capabilities of commercially available resin systems and part cost. A number of promising new resin systems have recently been introduced that offer the potential for production of large and/or complex high temperature components at reasonable manufacturing costs.

An integrated product team (IPT) has been formed to evaluate candidate PMC materials in order to determine their potential for ultimately meeting VAATE cost and performance objectives. This IPT, led by OAI, consists of the three major turbine engine companies: Allison Advanced Development Company (AADC), General Electric Aircraft Engines (GEAE), and Pratt & Whitney (P&W), and the Cincinnati Test Lab. In close collaboration with AFRL, the IPT will develop and perform a series of evaluations that will be used to rank the candidate PMC materials.

In Phase I, the IPT evaluated 11 candidate materials from seven different suppliers. In January 2005, the IPT down-selected five materials for Phase II testing. Of the five selected for phase II, four were selected in August 2005 for Phase III testing. The results of these tests were reported at AFRL High Temperature Polymer Matrix Composite Workshops, SAMPE Conferences and High Temp. Workshops.

For more information contact:
Carol Cash, Program Manager, at 440.962.3073 or CarolCash@oai.org.

Propulsion Instrumentation Working Group (PIWG)

Propulsion instrumentation is one of the most pervasive problems shared by aircraft engine companies. Gaining a more precise understanding of compressor, combustor and turbine performance is a vital, ongoing challenge.

The Propulsion Instrumentation Working Group cooperatively addresses critical propulsion engine-development test instrumentation and sensor issues to keep pace with the expected needs of future gas turbine engine development programs.

OAI is the facilitator for PIWG and manages all funded PIWG projects. In the past two years, the PIWG has successfully developed and tested cutting-edge sensor technology for high temperature operation in turbine engine compressors and turbines.